• by Pete Olson , October 16, 2009

In this continuing economic roller coaster, marketers have become more open to different ways to optimize their end-to-end marketing funnel. Increasingly, they're turning their attention site-side, where any improvements in conversion rates can lift the ROI of every marketing channel and infuse new efficiencies into the marketing mix as a whole.

This shift in focus marks a milestone for e-businesses, who have had processes in place to optimize acquisition ad channels for years. Most likely due to the money regularly being spent on media, optimizing search marketing campaigns, display ads and other efforts have long been top of mind for marketers looking to get more done with fewer resources.

Efforts to improve site-side conversions amplify the results of media and other customer acquisition efforts and can significantly boost returns on all types of marketing investments. Testing and personalization, both quite effective in improving site-side conversions, have become more urgent priorities for marketers. A/B and multivariate testing identifies core problems with a site that can then be corrected, and personalization aims for the ideal of a dynamic Web site of one by making each consumer's experience more relevant.

While testing isolates and identifies procedural and other specific problems on a site, three of the most effective ways to personalize a site include:

1. Automated merchandising

2. Segmenting customers to better target content and promotions

3. Site-side behavioral targeting

Automated merchandising solutions help marketers personalize sites without having to collect, analyze and act on analytics data. Automated merchandising typically boosts a site's average order value by 10-20% and revenue per visit by 5-30%. Visitors have more personalized and satisfying experiences, while being more open to up-sells and cross-sells that sweeten the pot for marketers.

While automated merchandising presents consumers with products or content likely to interest them, segmentation empowers marketers to set up rules to serve the most relevant content and offers to predefined segments and boost the odds of keeping visitors on the site. Segmentation enables marketers to present visitors with content and promotions based on what they already know about them.

Knowing which keyword triggered a PPC ad and referred a visitor, for example, can help marketers route that visitor to a specific product or category page. Geographic segmentation, on the other hand, enables marketers to serve warm weather products to warm climate visitors and winter products to consumers from cold climates. SaaS solutions make creating predefined user segments and serving content and promotions accordingly attainable and effective.

For marketers looking to maximize their investments and time, true site-side behavioral targeting solutions deliver increasingly personalized experiences to visitors and require little to no maintenance from marketers. Algorithms can analyze hundreds of anonymous user data points in real time to learn which campaign promotion, category image or other content element will be the most compelling and automatically match the best content to each visitor. Smooth Fitness, the No. 1 online retailer of home fitness equipment, achieved a 78% increase in aggregate click-through rate and a nearly 20% increase in average order value by automatically building micro-segments within their website traffic.

Automated merchandising, segmentation and behavioral targeting all provide marketers with effective ways to personalize sites, improve relevance and boost ROI, but new advances in personalization and site-side optimization will continue to emerge. Those that want to achieve more with the dollars already being spent should continue to look for better ways to match site content and other elements to each and every visitor on a personalized basis. As marketers aim for the ideal dynamic Web site of one, those that personalize sites well can boost the effectiveness of every acquisition channel in the mix.